Jeju Air Q2 net soars on strong demand for low-cost travel

By Kim Min-joo

Published : Aug. 3, 2017 - 15:19

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Jeju Air Co., one of South Korea's leading budget carriers, said Thursday its net profit more than tripled in the second quarter from a year earlier on higher low-cost travel demand.

In the three months that ended on June 30, net profit soared to 15.1 billion won ($14 million) from 4.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

"In the second and fourth quarters when demand is relatively lower than the other two quarters, we focused on attracting customers with lower ticket prices. Route diversification also helped, offsetting lower demand on Chinese routes amid a diplomatic row with Beijing," the statement said.

(Yonhap)

Korean companies heavily dependent on China suffered declines in their quarterly earnings as political tension between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system called THAAD in South Korea has yet to be resolved.

Operating profit also skyrocketed to 16.2 billion won from 600 million won during the same period the year before. Sales rose 41 percent to 162.1 billion won from 228 billion won, it said.

The low-cost carrier posted an operating profit for the 12th consecutive quarter.

In the January-June period, net profit surged 93 percent to 32.1 billion won from 16.6 billion won a year ago, the company said.

Jeju Air, currently with a fleet of 29 leased planes, plans to have a total of 32 jets by the end of this year to better serve its customers, it said. (Yonhap)

Jeju Air Q2 net soars on strong demand for low-cost travel

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